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CLASSICS OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL THOUGHT

CTI 302 / GOV 314E
FALL 2022
DR. MAURIZIO VIROLI

NO TEXTING, NO CELL PHONES, NO COMPUTERS OR ELECTRONIC

DEVICES ON DURING CLASS. SOCCER RULES APPLY: FIRST OFFENSE
(YELLOW CARD), YOU LOSE ONE POINT FROM THE FINALGRADE
SECOND OFFENCE (RED CARD) YOU LOSE TWO POINTS FROM THE
FINAL GRADE

Unique 29370 and 37979

TTh. 11-12:30
RLP 104

Office hours: W 9-12

Office: Mezes 3.150
Phone: 232-7256
Email: maurizio.viroli@austin.utexas.edu

Course Description
We will be asking what human beings are, what they care most about, what
they most deeply need and are moved by, and what the character is of their
highest aspirations. We will consider what the features are of human nature
that make human life both so rich and promising and so fraught with
conflict. We will consider different accounts of where we came from, and of
the potential that political life does or does not have to forge communities
within which individuals can find happiness. We will examine in depth ideas
of moral and social emancipation as well as reflections on the religious
experience. Through all of this, we will consider what the answers to those
questions suggest about how we should live, both individually and
collectively.
The course will proceed by means of close readings of some of the most
thoughtful and influential reflections on these questions, from ancient times
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to the present. By the end of the course, students should understand and be
able to assess some of the most compelling accounts of human nature that
have been proposed and should also have a deeper understanding of the
origin, appeal, and validity of many contemporary political and social
assumptions.

This course counts towards the Certificate Program in Core Texts and Ideas,
a 6-course sequence in the great books, ideas, and controversies that have
shaped the modern world. The program is open to students in all majors and
colleges. For more information, visit https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/coretexts.

This course may be used to fulfill the Social and Behavioral Sciences
component of the University Core Curriculum and addresses the following
four core objectives established by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating
Board: communication skills, critical thinking skills, empirical and
quantitative skills, and social responsibility.

Prerequisites: none

REQUIRED TEXTS
These books are all available at the University Co-op and are required in the
following editions:
Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War
Aristotle, The Politics, Cambridge University Press (selection)
Cicero, On Duties, Cambridge University Press
Quentin Skinner, ‘Ambrogio Lorenzetti and the portrayal of good
government’, in Visions of Politics, vol. 2, Cambridge University Press
Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince Oxford, Oxford University Press
Niccolò Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy, Chicago University Press
(selection)
Niccolò Machiavelli, Mandragola, Waveland Press
Hobbes, Leviathan, Cambridge University Press
Jean- Jacques Rousseau, “Discourse on Inequality” and “Discourse on
Political Economy,” in Rousseau, Basic Political Writings, Hackett
Publishing
Alexis De Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Harper & Row (selection)
Dostoevsky, Fëdor, The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor, Filiquarian
Publishing
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Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, Harcourt Brace (selection)

Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem, Penguin Classics
Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz, New York Simon &Schuster, 1996
Max Weber, Politics as a Vocation, in The Vocation Lectures, Hackett
Publishing
Walzer, Michael, Exodus and Revolution, New York, Basic Books, 1985
Martin Luther King, A Testament of Hope, Harper& Row (selection)

COURSE SCHEDULE

WEEK I

Introductory Lecture
Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War

WEEK II
Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War

WEEK III
Aristotle, The Politics

WEEK IV

Cicero, On Duties

WEEK V
Ambrogio Lorenzetti, ‘Of Good and Bad Government’

WEEK VI
Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy

WEEK VII
Machiavelli, The Prince
Machiavelli, Mandragola

WEEK VIII
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Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan

WEEK IX
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on Political Economy

WEEK X
Alexis De Tocqueville, Democracy in America,

WEEK XI
Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

WEEK XII
Hannah Arent, Eichmann in Jerusalem
Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz

WEEK XIII
Max Weber, Politics as Vocation
Walzer, Michael, Exodus and Revolution

WEEK XIV
Martin Luther King, A Testament of Hope
Review and conclusion

Assignments and Grading

Class participation 20%
Midterm 30%
Final 50%

The class participation grades will be based on the quality of the comments
you make and the questions you raise in discussion board posts, in class, and
in office hours. Class participation grades will be raised by 5% for perfect
attendance and will fall by 10% (one letter grade) for every unexcused
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absence after the second. There is no penalty for the first two absences,
absences due to documented illness or family emergency, or absences due to
religious holidays for which you have notified me in advance.

Papers will be graded for the quality of the writing as well as for their
substantive content. For advice on writing political philosophy essays, see
https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/government/_files/lpangleweb/AdviceOnPaper
Writing.pdf. For individual help with paper writing, come to office hours
any time or visit the Undergraduate Writing Center, info at
http://uwc.utexas.edu. Late papers will be subject to a penalty of 3% + 2%
for each calendar day they are late, unless you have a medical excuse or
family emergency. Any paper may be re-written within two weeks of being
returned for a revised grade, which will then be averaged with the original
grade on that assignment.

Students who violate university rules on scholastic dishonesty are subject to

disciplinary penalties, including the possibility of failure in the course and/or
dismissal from the university.

Students with disabilities may request appropriate academic

accommodations from the Division of Diversity and Community
Engagement, Services for Students with Disabilities,
https://diversity.utexas.edu/disability.